The Way I Am
by Maureen Olivia Lockhart
Summary: A high school fic explaining why Maureen is the way she is. Joanne's life suddenly changes when she finds out that Maureen is being abused. Maureen/Joanne/Collins mainly but all the bohos make an appearance. Previously titled 'School Days'.
1. Introduction

Disclaimer: I don't own Rent or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them.

**School Days – Introduction**

"I got it!" A shriek was heard from outside the library.  
"Got what?" Came another soft, quiet voice.  
"The lead in the school play!" The first girl screamed just as loud as before.  
"Oh, that's awesome!" The second girl smiled. "Congratulations"  
"Thanks!" The louder girl said. "C'mon, let's go. We're gonna be late for homeroom"  
The two girls linked arms and sort of skipped through the hallway to their next class.

AN: I know I didn't leave any clues, but can you guess who each character is? I bet you can't.


	2. Chapter One

AN: Okey dokey. Only two reviews, but I just posted the intro an hour ago. The girl who got the lead is Mimi and the quiet girl, surprisingly, is Maureen. This is probably going to be how long each chapter is. I usually don't have a lot of time to write.

**School Days - Chapter One**

"Hey guys!" Mimi greeted as she and Maureen entered their homeroom class.

"Hi Mimi," Mark smiled brightly.

"How's it goin'?" Joanne asked from behind her book, To Kill A Mockingbird.

Before Mimi could answer, Roger cut in.

"Dude, haven't you read that book, like, a gazillion times?"

"First of all," Joanne started, "I am not a dude. And secondly, this is only the sixth time I'm reading it."

"Only?" Roger snorted.

Joanne simply rolled her eyes and turned her attention towards Maureen.

"Anything new?" She asked with a smile.

"Oh, uh, not really," Maureen answered.

"Oh, okay," Joanne smiled again and turned back to her book.

"Guess what!" Mimi exclaimed excitedly.

"Huh?" Collins asked from behind Angel's vacant seat.

"Wait," Mimi paused, "Where's Angel?"

"Visiting his aunt, Collins stated."He'll be back tomorrow."

Mimi looked a little disappointed, but her smile came back quickly.

"I'll just tell him later."

"Tell him what?" Roger questioned.

"Okay, guess what!" Mimi shrieked again.

"And once again," Collins said, "I ask you, huh?"

"I got the lead in the school play!" Mimi squealed.

Joanne looked up from her book and congratulated her.

"Great job!" She exclaimed. "I knew you'd make it."

"Thanks, hun," Mimi said as she hugged her friend.

"Yeah," Mark agreed, "You really deserve this."

"Oh, babe," Mimi walked over to Mark's desk, "Thank you so much."

And she kissed his cheek.

Collins laughed and pointed.

"What?" Mark asked. "What's wrong?"

"You're blushing!" Roger laughed, too.

Mark sunk down in his seat.

"Aww, Marky," Mimi cooed, "It's okay!"

They all spent the rest of the class talking about random topics.


	3. Chapter Two

**School Days – Chapter 2**

The bell rang and everyone scurried off to their next class. Maureen was the only one left in the room. Or at least she thought she was. Joanne stood waiting in the doorway.

"Hey," Joanne walked closer to Maureen. "Are you coming?"

Maureen's head shot up, startled by Joanne's presence.

"Um," she looked back down at her bag, "Yeah."

"You've been acting different lately." Joanne walked toward Maureen.

Maureen didn't look up.

"What's wrong?" Joanne placed a hand on Maureen's shoulder.

Maureen jumped back looking as though she'd just been struck by lightning.

Joanne watched curiously as Maureen carelessly threw books into her bag.

"I…I…I have to go," Maureen strode quickly out of the room.

Joanne stood there shocked and slightly horrified at what had just happened.

"What in the world…"

Joanne noticed that Maureen had left a textbook behind. She picked it up planning to return it to Maureen later that day.

AN: Yay, first update in a billion years! I think I know where this is headed so I might update this story a lot more often than my other ones. And later I think I might have to change the rating of this if it keeps going the way it seems to be going. Haha, that whole part really didn't make sense at all.


	4. Chapter Three

"So guys," Collis pulled a peanut butter and ketchup sandwich out of a brown paper bag. "I was thinking we could see that new Star Wars movie this weekend."

"Wait, hold on," Roger pointed at Collins' sandwich. "Aren't those things usually made with peanut butter and _jelly_?"

"Yeah," Collins shrugged.

"Ew," Roger scrunched up his nose.

"It tastes the same," Collins defended his poorly made sandwich.

"If you close your eyes," Mimi snickered.

"Whatever, guys," Collins took a bite and smiled, "Don't knock it 'til you try it."

"Why do boys like those Star Wards movies so much"

"'Cause they're so cool!" Mark joined the conversation.

"Hey, everyone," Joanne sat down in the only empty seat between Mimi and Mark.

"Hey, jo," Collins smiled at her as she sate down.

His smile disappeared when he saw her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Joanne sighed.

"I'm kind of worried about Maureen," she confessed.

"She seemed quiet during homeroom but she usually keeps to herself anyway," Roger said.

"Yeah but she seemed tense when I talked to her after homeroom."

"How?" Mimi asked with concern.

"I touched her shoulder and she jumped back like I…like I hurt her…"

"What's on your mind, Jo?" Collins asked.

"Nothing," Joanne faked a smile, "I'm sure it's just like Roger said. She was just keeping to herself like usual."


	5. Chapter Four

"Maureen!" Joanne called after her friend as she walked down the street.

Maureen started to walk faster.

"Hey!" Joanne called again, "Mo!"

Maureen looked back to see how far Joanne was from her.

"Mo, watch out!" Joanne warned her about the tree branch in the middle of the sidewalk.

Maureen turned back around but tripped over the branch. Maureen screamed as she fell. Her books spilled out around her and a few things fell out of her backpack. Joanne ran over to her.

"Are you okay?" Joanne asked while gathering up the books that were scattered on the sidewalk.

"Yeah," Maureen gasped.

"No you're not."

Joanne set the books down and looked more carefully at Maureen. There was a light mark on Maureen's neck. It was obvious that Maureen had tried to cover it with make up.

Maureen avoided eye contact with Joanne.

"Maureen," Joanne reached out to Maureen's neck, "I know you didn't get this bruise from falling just now."

Maureen flinched when Joanne's fingers brushed against the bruise.

"Um," Maureen stumbled with her words, "Yeah, I just, uh, fell…"

"You don't honestly think I believe that?"

"Why do you keep bothering me about this?" Maureen seemed as if she were about to cry.

"I'm really worried about you, Mo," Joanne seemed confused by Maureen's reaction, "Why won't you tell me what's going on?"

"Please, just, leave me alone."

Maureen picked up all her books and put everything back into her backpack. She stood up quickly and fell back down into Joanne's lap.

"Whoa, girl," Joanne wrapped her arms around Maureen so she couldn't stand up again.

"What are you doing?" Maureen started to panic, "Let me go."

"No," Joanne said firmly, "Not until you tell me what's going on."

"Please," Maureen said with tears in her eyes, "Let go."

"Mo, I'm really concerned, what's the matter?"

Maureen struggled against Joanne trying to get away.

"Maureen, calm down," Joanne held onto Maureen a little tighter.

"Please, don't," Maureen freed her arms from Joanne's grasp and tried to remove Joanne's arms.

"Just tell me what's wrong and I'll let you go."

"No, Daddy, please…" Maureen began to sob.

"What?" Joanne loosened her grip but didn't let go.

"I'll do what you tell me to, just please don't do this," Maureen didn't even recognize where she was anymore.

Her arms pushed against Joanne still trying to get away. She also kicked her legs in hope that it would help her.

"Baby girl, what's happening?" Joanne began to cry in fear for her friend.

"Please don't rape me," Maureen gave in and fell against Joanne's chest.

Sobs racked Maureen's body and she curled up into a ball.

Joanne held Maureen's head to her chest.

"Shh," Joanne tried to calm Maureen down, "It's okay. You're safe with me, Mo. I won't hurt you. I promise."

They sat like that until Maureen fell asleep in Joanne's arms.

Joanne grabbed her cell phone from her pocket with one arm still around Maureen. She quickly dialed a number into her phone and brought it to her ear.

"Hello?" Collins answered on the other end.

"Hello? Collins?" Joanne sounded panicky from her end.

"Jo? What's wrong?"

"Please come. Hurry."

"What? What happened? Where are you?"

"It's Maureen. Something's wrong. Really wrong. We're on the sidewalk going from school to her house."

"I'll be right there. Just hang in there, okay?"

"Hurry."

Joanne shut her phone and put it back into her pocket.

She noticed that when Maureen was flailing about her sweater had ridden up and her sleeves were pushed up her arms. She picked up one of Maureen's arms and looked at her wrist. There was a handprint shaped bruise around it. She pushed Maureen's sleeve up a little further and what she saw horrified her. Maureen's entire arm was covered in bruises. They varied from being big to small; they were all different colours from blue to black to purple.

"God, baby, what's happened to you?" Joanne muttered to Maureen.

"Joanne!"

Joanne turned slightly to see Collins running towards her and Maureen.

"Oh man," Collins saw Maureen in Joanne's arms. "What happened to her?"

"She said some stuff that really scared me, Collins."

Collins sat down in front of Joanne and Maureen.

"Look," Joanne motioned to Maureen's arms.

Collins picked one of Maureen's arms up just as Joanne had done before. He lightly brushes his fingers across the bruises hoping they weren't as bad as they looked.

"Where else is she like this?" he asked warily.

"Her neck," Joanne said, "And her stomach."

Collins looked over Maureen's abs quickly. More bruises covered her toned stomach.

"What did she say?" Collins pulled her sweater back down.

"I had my arms around her because she fell and I didn't want her standing up too quickly again and she started saying stuff like 'Daddy please, I'll do whatever you want' and then she said 'Don't rape me." Joanne started to softly cry again.

"Aw man," Collins put his head in his hands, "We gotta do something, Jo."

"I know," Joanne looked up at Collins as he raised his head from his hands. "I'm afraid for Maureen."

"I am too."

AN: I realize that I totally ruined the whole time with mentioning Star Wars and then talking about cell phones but that's not really the main focus of the story so I'm not going to worry too much about that. I'll definitely try to watch that kind of stuff later on though so I don't get in the habit of ruining a story with little, important things like that. Also, I was originally going to have them be in a younger grade like 5th or 6th but then I decided they should be older like sophomores or something but then that kind of confused me with where I wanted this to go so now I'm not even sure how old I want them to be. For now let's go with

Maureen – 8th, 14

Joanne – 8th, 14

Collins – 9th, 15

Mimi – 8th, 13

Roger – 9th, 14

Mark – 9th, 14

Angel – 8th, 14

Benny – 9th, 15


End file.
